Billionaire pharma couple were strangled, Toronto police say

A mega-rich pharmaceutical company founder as well as his wife died of strangulation, as well as their demise can be being investigated as a possible homicide, police in Canada have said.

Both Barry Sherman, 75, as well as his wife, Honey, 70, were reportedly found Friday hanging by the railing of a lap swimming pool in their $7 million Toronto home.

Barry Sherman, one of the richest people on the planet, founded the huge generic pharma company Apotex in 1974 as well as was chairman at the time of his death. The Shermans had four children.

On Sunday, Toronto police said they responded to a 911 call to the couple’s residence at 11:44 a.m. Friday, reportedly by a real estate agent who was working for the couple.

Police then found the Shermans dead inside.

Autopsies perfomed on the couple found “the cause of death for both deceased was ligature neck compression,” or strangulation with an object such as a rope, police said.

“Toronto Police Service Homicide has taken the lead in This kind of suspicious death investigation,” police said.

Constable David Hopkinson said, “The circumstances of their death appear suspicious, as well as we are treating This kind of that will way.”

The Toronto Star on Saturday reported that will Toronto police then were investigating the possibility that will the Shermans died in a murder-suicide. Later that will same day, the Shermans’ children blasted police for raising that will possibility.

“Our parents shared an enthusiasm for life as well as commitment to their family as well as community totally inconsistent with the rumours regrettably circulated inside the media as to the circumstances surrounding their deaths,” a statement issued by the children said.

“We are shocked as well as think This kind of’s irresponsible that will police sources have reportedly advised the media of a theory which neither their family, their friends nor their colleagues believe to be true,” the family said.

The Toronto Globe as well as Mail noted that will Barry Sherman, whose estimated net worth was $4.6 billion, was a “ruthless fighter” in business who was “capable of waging as many as 100 lawsuits at a time against business rivals as well as spending the past 10 years of his life battling a group of cousins in court.”

The cousins were demanding up to $1 billion by Sherman “for allegedly cutting them out of Apotex,” the newspaper said.

The lawsuit included allegations that will Sherman had plotted to kill one of the cousins, the Globe as well as Mail said.

Apotex, in a message on the company’s website, said “This kind of can be with profound sadness that will we announce the unexpected passing of our founder, Dr. Bernard C. Sherman, Chairman of the Board of the Apotex Group of Companies, at the age of 75, as well as his wife Honey Sherman.”

The company noted that will Sherman started off Apotex with just two employees as well as a 5,000-square-foot office inside the 1970s, which since has grown to “more than 11,000 people in research, development, manufacturing, as well as distribution in facilities around the globe.”